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PRESENCE is an applied research initiative aimed at assisting the restoration of degraded landscapes and supporting poverty alleviation within the subtropical thicket biome to support the South African Government’s Working for Woodlands Program. The subtropical thicket is a biome rich in biodiversity, vital to the livelihoods of thousands of people and its degradation leads to the depletion of natural resources and overall ecosystem services provision. Hence, an effective restoration is required based on scientific basis and transdiciplinary approach, proposed through a joint collaboration between WUR departments and South African institutions.
PRESENCE will address key scientific knowledge gaps and undertake empirical research to ensure that restoration of degraded areas within South Africa’s subtropical thicket biome is:
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stakeholder-driven and recognises trade-offs in restoring desired ecosystem services;
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ecologically sound and maximises ecosystem integrity and biodiversity outcomes;
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socio-economically acceptable in supporting livelihoods and cultural traditions;
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financially viable through the development of innovative financing mechanisms for ecosystem management (e.g. carbon credits (CDM), water credits, biodiversity credits);
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institutionally feasible through good governance arrangements and change processes.
The first steps of PRESENCE are being given with the support of INREF-Seed Money funding from WUR and co-funding from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry – South Africa, facilitated by EarthCollective & Rhodes Restoration Research Group (R3G) and based on the Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing Group. This last supports PRESENCE by providing knowledge and expertise on the broad scope of spatial analysis, e.g. promoting the combination of the diverse disciplines involved on a spatial and temporal dimension. |
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